Lucida Artista LG-510

This review is for the 3/4-size version of the Lucida LG-510, which I purchased for my 5-year-old son to learn on. (It's still a bit on the big side for him, though.) I assume it was made in either late '08 or early '09. Made in China. The top appears to be solid wood, but I can't really tell, for certain. At this price, it is most likely laminated. Other reviewers have already described the woods used in its construction, so I won't bore the reader. The neck is rather narrow for my larger fingers, but actually a bit big for my son's fingers.

Okay, for what it cost ($60), you can't really expect it to sound all that great, but it doesn't sound like a cigar box strung with fishing line, either. What does impress me is the intonation, which is spot-on, and, as a guitar teacher, that is more important to me than the overall tone, anyway. For a beginner student, it is quite adequate. It might even sound better with some decent-quality strings.

As I received it, the action on this little guitar was actually quite good! Somebody obviously took some time to make sure that it would be easy on the fingers. The fit and finish of the guitar is also quite nice, with no obvious flaws.

So far, after almost three months in the hands of a 5-year-old boy, the guitar is holding up quite well. It appears to be solidly constructed

I haven't come across any issues that have required any customer support, so I can't offer any opinion or judgement on that area.

I have played guitar off-and-on for over 40 years and have been a professional music teacher for 30. Since I have retired from teaching, I have started a guitar studio, specializing in teaching young (5+) children and older adults, and I have no hesitation in recommending the Lucida guitars for my beginners. In my opinion, they are a good value for the money.

2004 Chinese made Lucida Model 510.
12 fret classical guitar. Laminated top, sides, back.
Solid neck - not mahogany, maybe maple.
Tuners - cheap, but work fine.
Neck/Scale is a little shorter than average classical guitar.

Dull sound, but has some sustain, which is a plus for such a
cheap guitar. No brightness whatsoever. Not much variety in
sound - just dull and less dull, depending on where you pluck
a string.

What ruins this guitar is that the neck width is not enough for
the string spacing. I end up pulling the high e string off the
fretboard if I am not careful. This is a major flaw and inexcusable.
But, except for that, the frets are VERY nice - smooth. The
action is a little too high and the saddle has some room to be
lowered, but the guitar will not win any awards for having a very
easy action. I have seen much worse action on cheap guitars, though.
Workmanship is very good on the guitar - bracings cut neatly,
tuning pegs work ok. Looks like some pride in workmanship. Too
bad this is ruined by top and back woods too thick and not
responsive enough. I think if they made the top solid, it could
not have added much to the price - maybe another 10 dollars? And
the guitar would have sounded 20 times better. But, the bean
counters who made this guitar wanted to sell something rock bottom
price.

Guitar is built very rugged. Great guitar to take to the beach.

Own a Strat and dabble in classical guitar. I love the cheap
price on this guitar and the fact I can take it in the woods or
to the beach without worrying whether it gets destroyed.
I hate the width of the neck and the krappy, dull sound. This guitar
was the cheapest guitar I could find on the web. I don't see the
point of spending $130 on a plywood top guitar, when you can get
one for $50.00. I think if the Chinese were given some decent wood
to work with, they would blow away the competition in cheap classical
guitars. They are already doing this in steel string guitars.

The features were not that great on this guitar.The tuners looked bad and they sure did not keep the guitar in tune well. The guitar is made of white woods(whatever that is)and has a laminated top.The neck is nato and looks just plain bad.The top of this guitar looked awesome.I had a nice light glossy finish.The back and neck were nice also they had a dark glossy wood.A nice look was the neck,I could see a nice wood grain pattern on the neck.

The sound was really, really, really bad.Itjust sounded dead.The volume was terrible.(especially the trebles)The sustain was nothing to rave about either.

The action was extremely high as expected.As I mentioned earlier the neck looked awful.The design around the soundhole slightly over lapped the neck.

I should be obvious by now this is not a guitar for pro gigging.This guitar just does not seem to be that solid.I have a feeling that the fingerboard would continue to look worse after a lot of play.

Never dealt with them.

This guitar is bad, but what do you expect from a $40 dollar guitar.The finish on the guitar is probably it's best feature.